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ON THE NECESSITY 



OF A 



Mechanical Laboratory; 



ITS P'^VINOE AND ITS METHODS, 



^1 



By Prof, m H. ^TKxxrston, A.M., CM 



A Paper read before tbe American Railway Master Mechanics' Association. 
Reprinted from the Journal of the Franklin Institute, December, 1875. 



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PHILADELPHIA: 

Wm. p. Kildare, Printer, 734 & 736 Sansom Street. 



1875. 




A 






THE 

STEVENS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 






Founded by the late Edwin A. Stevens, at 
HOBOKEN, N. J. 



INSTRUMENT MAKER'S 

SHOP. 



STEREOPTIOONS 

Vertical lanterns, 
MICROSCOPES, 

SPECTROSCOPES, 
Blow- pipe Apparatus 

and other kinds of 

FhilosophicalApparatus 

made to order. 



Hknry Morton, Ph. D., 

President, 
Alfrkd M. Mayer, Ph. D., 

Prof, Physics, 
Robert H. Thurston, A. M., C. E., 

Prof. Mecli. Engineering, 
De Volson Wooi>, C. E., 

Prof. Math. & Mechanics, 
C. W. McCoRD, A. M., 

Prof. Mech. Drawing, 
Albert R. Leeds, A. M.. 

Prof. Chemistry, 
CiiARLHs F. Kroeh, a. M., 

Prof. Languages, 
Rev. JIdwako Wall, A. M., 

Prof. Belles-lettres. 



MACHINE SHOP. 

MACHINES 

FOR 

Testing Materials, 

APPARATUS 

FOR 

Testing Lubricants, 
and a limited amount 
of special construction 
may be done in the 
Machine Shop on spe- 
cial order. 

Terms cask witli order. 



The course of the Stevens Institute is of four years' duration, and covers all that 
appertains to the profession of a Mechanical Engineer. By means of Workshops 
provided with excellent machinery, Physical Laboratories whose appointments are 
without an equal, and with the finest Cabinets of Instruments, every opportunity for 
the acquisition of thorough and practical knowledge is affoi-ded. 

REQUIREMENTS FOR ADMISSION. 

Candidates for admission to the fii-st year of the course, should not be less than 
16 years of age, and must be prepared to pass a satisfactory examination in arithme- 
tic, algebra, including quadratic equations^ geometry as given in Davies' Legendre, 
and the six elementary propositions of Plane Trigonometr3\ 

Candidates for admission to the higher classes must be prepared to pass a satistac- 
tory examination in all the studies previously pursued by the classes which they 
propose to enter. 

Advanced students and men of science desiring to avail themselves of the appli- 
ances of the laboratories of the Stevens Institute, to carry on specinl investigations, 
may apply to the President. 

For further particulars address the President, H. MORTON, Hoboken, N. J. 



A MECHANICAL LABORATORY 

has been founded in connection with the Department of Engineering, in which the 
strength and other properties of materials are dctei'mined, and in which, with the aid 
of the several other departments of the Institute various technical researches are 
conducted. 

Trials of steam and other engines, of steam boilers and of machinery arc made, 
under the direction of the Professor of Engineering, by students or skilled' employees. 

A small amount of work in designing machinery and in general engineering can be 
done when it may be made a means of instruction of advanced students. 

For Terms, address the T>irector of the Mechanical 

Laboratory. 



[Reprinted from the Journal of the Franklin Institute, December, 1875.] 



ON THE 



^jecesHitg 0|f a J[||ec!iaiiicsl Wali0rat0rg 



ITS PROVINCE AND ITS METHODS. 



By Professor R. H. Thurston. 



1. Introductory . — There are few men of any considerable practi- 
cal experience in engineering who have not felt the great need of 
some well established and reliable authority to which they could ap- 
ply for special information, either purely scientific or more strictly 
professional, bearing upon unfamiliar details of their work. 

Probably every man who has grown up in daily contact with any 
branch of mechanical industry has seen hundreds and often thousands 
of dollars expended in the effort to obtain such information, and has 
seen the result accomplished, and the information, valuable as it was 
to many besides those who acquired it, remaining unpublished. The 
world at large has been left as ignorant as before. 

Repetition of the work by others has followed, and a similar ex- 
penditure of money has produced the same limited result. Where 
one thousand dollars properly expended in securing the desired knowl- 
edge would suffice, were the results properly communicated to the 
profession, ten thousand or twenty thousand dollars may be expended 
by as many independent experimenters, each ignorant of the other's 
work ; and, after all, the hundreds of others who might have been 
benefited received no assistance. 

In many other cases experiments have been carried on, and large 
sums of money expended upon them, without the slightest really new 
and valuable information being gained, either because the experimen- 
ters were unaccustomed to such work, and had but a vague knowl- 
edge of the real object to be attained, and still less knowledge of the 
proper method of obtaining it, or because of their unfamiliarity with 
the best methods of investigation, or in consequence of their ignorance 
of what had been already discovered and published by others. 



*A paper I'ead before the American Railway Master Mechanics' Associatiou. 



It often happens, also, that a long course of experiments or a most 
tedious, elaborate, and expensive investigation is comparatively bar- 
ren of results, in consequence of some apparently slight neglect which 
would not have occurred had the investigator been accustomed to such 
accurate work as is required. 

Again, it has very frequently happened that engineers have re- 
mained for many years in ignorance of the real nature of some famil- 
iar phenomenon, or of some important principle, simply because, in 
order to enable the subject to be intelligently studied in all its rela- 
tions, its complete investigation required a comparison of experiments 
made in the chemical or the physical laboratory, with the work of the 
mechanic. The mechanical properties of materials ; the eifect of 
temperature upon the metals; the incrustation and corrosion of steam 
boilers ; the value of lubricants ; the heating power of fuels ; all these, 
and many other subjects, require for their full investigation the high- 
est talent of the chemist, and of the physicist, as well as of the engineer. 

The serious necessity of the establishment of some great institu- 
tion which should be solely devoted to the work of investigation of 
such scientific and professional problems as are daily being presented 
to the engineer and the mechanic, in the progress of reguhir woik, 
was forcibly impressed upon the mind of the writer when — then but 
a boy amusing himself in the workshop and the drawing-room — he 
found himself unable to obtain accurate information upon even the 
most important subjects involved in the design of the steam engine, 
or in the proportions of its details, and especially information relative 
to those circumstances which determine the quality of the materials 
used. The size of a piston rod, the thickness of a cylinXler head, the 
proportions of a crank pin, were usually determined, in nearly every 
shop, not by rules based upon careful investigation of the strength of 
the material, but by ^'rule of thumb." The economical value of high 
steam and of expansion, the influences of piston speed, the laws gov- 
erning the deposition of the salts held in solution in spring water or 
in salt water ; the effect of surface condensation on the efficiency of 
the engine and upon the durability of the boiler, are all subjects in 
regard to which engineers held widely discordant opinions. The real 
eflect of heat and cold upon materials was uncertain, and the laws 
governing the resistance of metals to blows, it was asserted, were in- 
volved in mystery. 



When, in later years, he was intrusted with sometimes important 
work, more light was the reward of painstaking investigation, but it 
came slowly and was most unsatisfactory from its meagerness. Ex- 
perience in the management as well as design of engines and 
machinery at sea and on shore, revealed still more fully a great want 
of information in the most important branches of engineering work. 
YVe are getting on more rapidly to-day, but still too slowly. 

Abroad, some valuable work has been done — far more than in the 
United States, although something has been done here. Our knowl- 
edge of the strength of materials rest, upon the researches of General 
Morin, of Tredgold, Hodgkinson, Fairbairn, and Barlow, of Chevan- 
dier, and Werthiem, and of Vicat. Kirkaldy, Styffe, and Bauschin- 
ger have made the latest and most valuable contributions from foreign 
sources. In this country, a committee of the Franklin Institute, and 
Captain Rodman and Major "VVade of the Army, Chief Engineer W. H. 
Shock of the Naval Engineer Corps, and a few others, have done good 
work, while Commander Beardslee, United States Navy, has recent- 
ly added important facts to those previously acquired. The experi- 
ments of Clark in England, of Bauschinger on the Continent, and of 
Forney in the United States, have thrown some light on the methods 
of distribution of steam in locomotives. The labors of Tresca, of 
Morin, and of Coulomb on the laws and facts of friction are the 
basis of our knowledge of that subject. Our own Professor Johnson 
gave us an immense amount of information relative to the values and 
characteristics of American coals ; and Baron Von Weber has given 
us important knowledge relating to the permanent way, from experi- 
ments on European railroads. Thus we find that some valuable work 
has been done in every line of research which has become the stan- 
dard that guides us in practical applications. 

In nearly every case we shall find, on investigation, that the stan- 
dard which conservatism insists upon our accepting as a guide in our 
work has been some time in existence, and that h is based upon ex- 
periments with materials which w^re quite different from those now 
in our markets, and that it was made when methods now perhaps ob- 
solete were considered satisfactory. In every field of labor we there- 
fore meet with more or less unexplored paths, and we find ourselves 
daily at a loss to determine the best method of doing our work. The 
best work which has yet been done in the most important branches of 
research has usually been of such a broad character, and has demanded 



the expenditure of so much time and money that it has of necessity 
been done by governments or by wealthy corporate bodies. 

Abroad we have in the French " Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers ;" 
and in the laboratories of great technical schools of Europe, may be 
found men competent to do good work, and who are assisted by the 
pecuniary aid of their governments. It thus happens that we owe 
very much to them. In this country the same system which gives us 
political freedom operates against the successful prosecution of such 
work under the patronage of government. In matters of pure science, 
as in the work of the Smithsonian Institute, in that of the coast survey, 
and in the occasional astronomical or geological expeditions which are 
carried out at public cost, the difficulties are not so serious. But in- 
vestigations which have a directly practical bearing are liable to fall 
into the hands of those who are not thoroughly well prepared for the 
work. 

It seems very certain that a really successful and permanently 
useful institution, devoted to investigation, must be partially, if not 
entirely, sustained by private individuals legally responsible, and 
well known as qualified for their work. 

2. Methods and investigations. — The method of operation in the 
prosecution of any investigation may be detailed in a few words : — 

a. The investigator must first know definitely what phenomenon it is 
proposed to investigate. A vague desire to know more of any given 
subject is by ne means sufficient to justify entering upon a work 
which may be found to be indefinite in its extent and infinite in its 
ramifications. As a rule, the more completely the work tiaay be nar- 
rowed down the better. It must necessarily be ultimately resolved 
into one or more questions which may be stated with precision before 
any probably intelligent and remunerative work can be commenced. 

For example : To determine the effect of cold upon rails and ma- 
chinery, which has been so often attempted and which still remains 
to a considerable extent, an unsolved problem, we may find ourselves 
compelled to resolve this question into several, as, for instance :— 

(1.) What is the effect of change of temperature upon the strength 
of pure iron? 

(2.) What upon iron containing carbon chemically combined, i. e. 
steel ? 

(3.) What upon iron containing carbon mechanically combined? 

(4.) What upon iron containing sulphur chemically combined? 



(5.) What upon iron containing phosphorus ? 

(6.) What upon iron containing silicon ? 

(7.) What upon iron containing cinder ? 

(8.) W^hat upon steel containing sulphur ? 

(9.) What upon steel containing phosphorus ? 
(10.) What upon steel containing silicon? 

(11.) What upon metal containing mixtures of these substances in 
the various proportions frequently met with? 

(12.) What is the effect of change of temperature upon the ductility 
of all these metals ? 

And when we speak of the effect of low temperature we must not 
forget that it may have, and in fact does have, an effect in at least 
two ways : It will affect the resisting power of a material, especially 
under shock, not only by the change of molecular force which is due 
to the change of the relative distances of the molecules, but also by 
the simple fact of change of density itself. 

h. Having determined all of these several simple effects, it remains to 
collect them and to so group the results that the great law underly- 
ing their action may be detected ; and then the often exceedingly dif- 
ficult task arises of expressing that law mathematically, or in some 
other way, which may make the work practically useful. It is 
evident that this problem can only be solved by a combination of the 
intelligent efforts of the chemist and the physicist as well as of the 
mechanic. 

Thus our simplest questions may, upon examination, be found to 
comprehend complex and often difficult problems, and may require 
for their solution the highest talent of not merely one man, but of a 
number of specialists, all of whose labors may be required to secure 
a satisfactory solution. 

c. After deciding precisely what is to be learned, the next step is 
usually to ascertain how much has already been done of the work 
thus determined and limited. This usually requires a careful ex- 
amination of the records of previous professional work extending far 
back into earlier times ; and it frequently happens that a vast amount 
of valuable information may be gleaned, and the work immensely 
shortened, by studying the results already made public by native and 
foreign experimenters. Much of the finest and most practically 
valuable work of their kinds which has been yet accomplished will be 
found described in French and German engineering works and period- 



icals. The long standard works of Morin and of others already 
mentioned are illustrations. 

d. Next after the labor of examining and collating earlier researches, 
comes the planning of the new investigation proposed. This is as 
necessary a preliminary as is the designing of an engine before work 
is commenced upon it in the shop. A thoroughly considered and 
well matured plan of operation will usually prevent any serious errors 
involving expenditure of money, or, what is equally important, the 
loss of valuable time. 

The formation of a plan of operations requires a very definite 
knowledge of the character of the problem and an accurate under- 
standing of the relative importance and probable bearing of the an- 
ticipated results, and a knowledge of the facilities available for the 
investigation. It presupposes a knowledge of the adaptation, range, 
accuracy, and reliability of the apparatus to be used ; and not less 
important than all this is the knowledge of the extent to which assis- 
tance must be asked of, and how far aid may be expected from, 
special researches of a more purely scientific nature. Skill in exper- 
imentation thus guided will then produce the best results attainable 
with the means at hand. 

e. The next requirement is a proper collation and registry of results, 
a work in which there is opportunity to make useful a considerable 
degree of ingenuity and talent. 

/. To make correct deductions from the records, is the final task, and 
this is an exceedingly important matter. A lack of knowledge of 
the subject or of collateral facts may destroy the value of the whole 
work. 

This work being properly done and the account of the research 
being properly written out, a contribution to knowledge will usually 
be found to have been secured which has a value to the public, and 
sometimes to individuals, far exceeding that of the time and the 
money expended in securing it. Men of science have often devoted 
the best years of a life-time to the investigation of a single train of 
phenomena, seemingly insignificant in comparison with the great 
facts surrounding them; yet neither they nor the world think this 
a wasteful expenditure of time. The value of acquired knowledge 
is never to be measured by the value of immediately apparent results 
or of evident applications ; yet, in the course of the practice of the 
engineer and the mechanic, it rarely happens that such experimental 



work as he is compelled to take in hand does not bring an immediate 
and ample remuneration, while the ultimate benefit accruing is often 
immensely great in proportion to what is paid for it. 

We usually find that we help ourselves by such work to a most 
satisfactory extent, and at the same time are enabled to give our 
neighbors of our light without sacrifice, and to experience the grati- 
fication of benefiting the profession and the public. 

3. Locating a mechanical Laboratory. — The location of such an 
establishment as would be well adapted to general work of the kind 
here contemplated, and to the prosecution of special investigation of 
a directly or indirectly practical character should be carefully selec- 
ted. 

The necessity of frequently calling for advice and assistance of 
both practical and scientific men, and the desirability of securing 
accessibility will prevent its satisfactory operation if it is not located 
so as to be within reach of a large proportion of those most interested 
in its establishment and maintenance. 

The necessity which will frequently arise of making accessory in- 
vestigations of a scientific character, in various branches of natural 
science, will dictate its establishment, probably, in connection with 
some conveniently situated and well established technical institution 
of learning, provided with well stocked laboratories, conducted by 
men capable of appreciating the importance of the work and of prop- 
erly pursuing such investigations and who will take an interest in 
the subject. 

The institution should have a character which is readily defined. 
Its magnitude is not so easily determined. It may be of very limi- 
ted extent, and may yet do a vast amount of good ; or it may become 
a vast establishment, employing a large corps of able men, making 
use of extensive collections of valuable apparatus for machinery, and 
making profitable use of larger capital than the French " Conserva- 
toire des Arts et Metiers," already alluded to, which has an annual 
income of nearly seven hundred thousand francs, five hundred thous- 
and of which come from the state. In a large and growing country 
like ours, peopled by the most active and enterprising of every race, 
the future of such an institution, if properly managed, would be what- 
ever its managers and those whom they aid might choose to make it. 

Its stock of apparatus would be determined, in character and ex- 
tent, by the nature of the work most imperatively needed. It 



would probably comprise a set of machines for testing the strength 
and other no less important qualities of the materials of construction, 
dynamometric apparatus, instruments for testing lubricants, steam 
engine indicators, calorimeters, pyrometers and thermometers, and 
apparatus for determining the heating power of fuels. A mercurial 
gauge with the usual accessories for comparing standard gauges, 
standard weights and measures, instruments for determining specific 
gravity, and other well-known forms of experimental apparatus 
would be needed. 

Special apparatus and instruments adapted to new methods of in- 
vestigation and new fields of research would rapidly accumulate, as 
they might be constructed for special purposes or contributed from 
outside sources, and would ultimately form a collection of very great 
value. A small collection of machine tools would be needed for the 
purpose of preparing materials and of making or repairing apparatus. 

4. The 'personnel — The personnel of this establishment would 
probably consist of a Director who should be, if possible, familiar at 
once with the theory and practice of the profession of engineering, 
and who should also have as large a knowledge as possible of science, 
particularly in its bearing upon his work. He should have able as- 
sistants of similar qualifications, and should be able to appeal to men 
of science and to practical men alike for advice, with confidence that 
it would be given and that it could be profited by. Good mechanics 
to take charge of tools, to aid in preparing apparatus, and to assist 
in manipulation, and some unskilled labor Avould complete the list. 

Such an institution as has been here briefly described, doing the 
work which is most immediately required by the various branches of 
manufacturing industry and of engineering, would be of incalculable 
benefit to mankind. As remarked by the writer in addressing the 
Trustees of the Stevens Institute of Technology on this subject, such 
an enterprise " would give to this country an institution such as has 
never yet been organized, and one whose value would prove beyond 
estimation. The accumulation of facts, the valuable application of 
science, and the directly practical bearing of the work which may be 
done, would in a comparatively short time be productive of richer re- 
sults than have been attained in constructive science during many 
previous years. It would do most effectively that work which has 
hitherto been too much neglected, the application of scientific knowl- 
edge to familiar work and to matters of business. It would do much 



to close up the space ^vhich so widely separates the man of business 
from the man of science, and would lead to a far more perfect system 
of mutual aid than has yet existed." 

It would, by aiding the progress of improvement in our methods of 
work, and by the application of scientific knowledge in practical life, 
aid in the development of our material resources, lend a new impetus 
to the industrial enterprises of our people, and assist, to an extent 
which can probably hardly be conceived, in the promotion of our na- 
tional prosperity. 

A decade of such work as could and should be done, when such 
facilities are rendered available, may be expected to be more fruitful 
of practically useful results than a quarter of a century of unsystem- 
atic, desultory, and unorganized efforts, such as has hitherto been our 
only method of acquiring information. 

5. The Stevens Institute of Technology and its Laboratories. — 
The convenient location of the Stevens Institute of Technology, its 
exceptionally complete collections, its special adaptation, in conse- 
quence of its organization as a School of Mechanical Engineering 
and by the training of its officers and employees to such work, has 
led gentlemen well known in connection with railroad work and with 
the iron and steel industries to ask whether it would be possible to 
induce its authorities to inaugurate such an institution as a part of 
its Department of Engineering. 

The evident interest which the plan has awakened among all classes 
engaged in engineering and mechanical work induced the writer, 
who had long believed such a laboratory to be one of the necessities 
of the present time, to address the Trustees upon the subject. This 
correspondence, in which the case is stated by the writer, and in which 
the trustees acquiesce in the views presented with an interest and a 
promptness of action which exhibits a thorough appreciation of the 
importance of the subject, will be read with interest by every one. 

The trustees of the Stevens Institute of Technology have consent- 
ed to inaugurate a mechanical laboratory, and it is to be hoped that 
this germ, which is just now commencing its development, may grow 
into something as noble in itself and as grand in results as its most 
interested and enthusiastic friends can possibly have anticipated. 

It is a pleasure to be able to announce also, that those who are 
most interested in the matter are taking prompt action in aid of the 
plan. The American Railway Master Mechanics' Association has its 



10 

standing committee, which is ready to do all that lies within its pro- 
vince, and it may be expected to give valuable aid and advice. 

The American Society of Civil Engineers have taken similar ac- 
tion, and their committee stands ready to co-operate with other 
societies and with individuals, and to assist also by advice and active 
exertion in securing means for the inauguration of this important 
project. 

Leading members of the iron and steel associations and of the 
press are taking an active interest in the subject, and the plan will 
be so thoroughly published that it must succeed if the advantages 
apparent are at all appreciated by those who are to be most directlv 
assisted. 

Stevens Institute of Technology. 
Hohoken^ N. J. 



n-i 



XHE J'(DJJ:Rl<TJLJij 



OF THE 



FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, 



ESTABLISHED 1826. 



Tlie Journal of tlie Franklin Institute is issued in monthly numbers 
of sevent}'-two pages each. Its object is not only to encourage original 
research in all matters relating to the practical applications of science, 
more especially to Engineering, both Civil and Mechanical, by the pub- 
lication of memoirs, but also to furnish to the members of the Insti- 
tute and to its readers generally, a review of current discovery and in- 
vention, not only by the re-publication of valuable articles in extenso, 
but also by a monthly summary of novelties in Science and the Arts. 

Subscription I^rice $5.00 per Annum, 

Letters on business should be addressed to the Actuary of the Frank- 
lin Institute. Communications for the Journal to the Editor. 
The Journal can also be obtained from 

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